Gallifrey Stands
by garfieldodie
Summary: An alternate take on the climax of 'The Day of the Doctor' - 13 Doctors working to save Gallifrey? You'd think they'd have more to say!


"Another one!" Androgar said in a tone that suggested he wasn't very surprised.

The General followed him into the War Room, joining the other officers that surrounded the table, which was projecting the message in question in holographic form. "Are you sure the message is from him?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Why would he do that?"

They stared at the message: "GALLIFREY STANDS"

"What's the mad fool talking about now…?" the General murmured darkly.

Then, from behind him, he heard a voice that was foreign yet familiar simultaneously.

"Hello! Hello! Come in, Gallifrey High Command! This is the Doctor speaking!"

Everyone turned to look at a circular holographic image that contained a live video feed from a TARDIS somewhere out there in Gallifrey's atmosphere. It was being transmitted by a young-man with long brown hair, a large chin and a bowtie.

Suddenly, a second hologram appeared to their left, and they saw a second man, slightly older than the first, wearing a suit and necktie. "Hello! Also the Doctor! Can you hear me?"

Then a third hologram appeared between the other man, and a scruffy old face the General recognized showed up. "Also the Doctor – standing ready!" he announced.

The General felt a sinking feeling in his chest. "Dear god, three of them," he said dismally. "All my worst nightmares at once."

Undeterred, the Tenth Doctor spoke up. "General, we have a plan."

"We should point out at this moment that it _is _a fairly terrible plan," the Eleventh Doctor added.

"And almost certainly won't work."

"I was happy with 'fairly terrible'."

"Sorry, just… thinking out loud."

"We're flying our three TARDISes into your lower atmosphere."

"We're positioned to equidistant intervals around the globe! 'Equidistant' – so grown up!"

The War Doctor in the middle was working at his controls. "Just about ready to do it," he announced.

"Ready to do what?" the General demanded.

"We're going to freeze Gallifrey," the Eleventh Doctor replied evenly.

The General looked incredulous at this suggestion. "I'm sorry –_ What?!_"

"Using our TARDISes, we're going to freeze Gallifrey in a single moment in time," the Tenth Doctor explained.

"You know, like those stasis cubes?" the War Doctor elaborated. "Single moment in time held in a parallel pocket universe."

"Except we're going to do it to a whole _planet_!" the Eleventh Doctor explained.

"And all the people on it!" the Tenth Doctor finished proudly.

The General still looked confused. He grasped the basic idea, but he still had some trouble accepting it as a battle strategy. "What…? Even if that were possible, which it _isn't_, why would you do such a thing?"

"Because the alternative is burning," the Eleventh Doctor replied firmly.

"And I've seen that," the Tenth Doctor added.

"And I never want to see it again!"

The General slowly began to cotton onto the idea that these new Doctors were from the future. They had clearly seen the outcome of the Time War, and they had defied the Laws of Time to come back somehow. Even so, the idea itself…

"We'd be… lost in another universe, frozen in a single moment! We'd have nothing!" he said doubtfully.

"You would have _hope_!" the Eleventh Doctor said emphatically. "And right now, that is exactly what you _don't _have!"

"It's delusional!" the General continued. "The calculations alone would take… _hundreds_ of years!"

"Oh, hundreds and hundreds!" the Eleventh Doctor agreed.

"But don't worry," the Tenth Doctor said in a tone that suggested something big was going to happen. "I started a _very long time ago_!"

A few moments later, a fourth hologram suddenly flickered into existence next to the one of the Tenth Doctor, revealing a wizened old man working at the controls of a somewhat more simplistic-looking console. He looked them dead in the eye as he spoke.

"Calling the War Council of Gallifrey – this is the Doctor!" the First Doctor announced.

And one by one, eight more holograms flickered into life, encircling the entire War Room – each one containing a Doctor.

"You might say," the Eleventh Doctor said proudly, "I've been working on this all my lives!"

"Enough talk, young man!" the First Doctor said firmly. "Let's get to work!"

"Quite right, Doctor!" the Second Doctor agreed. "Good luck, everyone!"

"Standing by to receive calculations," the Third Doctor added.

Everyone in the War Room was silenced by the incredible sight of twelve Doctors all working at once. What made the moment so incredible was the fact that none of them were bickering or complaining or even competing. They were all working as one, stringing together their calculations as they zoomed around in their police boxes.

"But how?" the General finally asked. "How did you do this?"

"Well!" the War Doctor replied, never looking up from his work. "First, we had to send the message back."

"So, we used the Moment to open a portal and send a message back through time," the Tenth Doctor added.

"And then we sent instructions to ourselves when we were eight years old!" the Eleventh Doctor added.

"Eight years old?" the General asked, crinkling his forehead in confusion.

"The Untempered Schism," Androgar said quietly, realizing the truth.

"We implanted the message in our eight-year-old self's mind," the Seventh Doctor explained.

"But… then that means you've known about the Time War all your life!" the General exclaimed.

"Nothing of the sort, General!" the Fourth Doctor objected, flipping several switches at once with his elbow.

"We simply placed it the very back of our mind!" the Sixth Doctor added, managing to push a lever forward with his foot.

"It only comes out every once in a while, when we've got spare time," the Fifth Doctor continued. "Then, once we've completed another section of the calculations, we use the TARDIS's telepathic circuits to help ourselves forget until we need to remember again!"

"A bit overcomplicated, I know," the Fourth Doctor said with a chuckle.

"But then, we've only got one home," the Seventh Doctor said.

"And we'd very much like to keep it in the sky where it belongs," the Sixth Doctor finished.

"Couldn't agree more, Doctors," the Eighth Doctor added, theatrically throwing a lever at his wood-paneled console. "Sending everything I've got along!"

"Thank you, Doctor! I've got it!" the War Doctor replied. "Adding in everything I have."

"Twelve heads _are _better than one!" the Tenth Doctor chuckled.

They all heard a Northern-tinted groan come from the intercoms. "Ohhh, great – I regenerate into _that _sense of humor?"

"I know," the War Doctor agreed. "It's like Stan Laurel with a time machine. I'm sending the calculations on to you now, Doctor!"

"Taa very much, Doctor! And for my next trick…"

The Tenth Doctor took a moment to boggle into his monitor. "Stan Laurel?!" he squeaked.

"I think the high-pitched voice only adds to it," the Eighth Doctor chuckled.

"I've no idea where he picks that up from," the Fifth Doctor said, trying not to look too awkward.

"All right, you lot!" the First Doctor interrupted. "Stop fiddling about and get on with it!"

The General pinched the bridge of his nose with his gloved fingers. "I didn't know when I was well off! All twelve of them!"

Androgar looked at one of the monitors to check, and his eyes widened. "No, sir!" he announced in surprise. "All thirteen!"

The Doctors all stopped for a moment, all of them floored by the announcement.

"What?" the Eleventh Doctor asked quietly.

At that moment, a thirteenth hologram flickered into being in the single blank spot, right next to the Eleventh Doctor, and everyone laid their eyes on a well-worn face with large eyes, sharp features and silver hair.

"Hello, Doctors! Surprise!" he announced.

The Eleventh Doctor could only gape in shock before regaining control of his mouth. "But… that's not possible…"

"Why not?" the War Doctor asked. "You're the twelfth incarnation. You should have at least one more regeneration in you."

"I don't. Sandshoes over there regenerated into the same face once. _I'm_ technically thirteenth."

Suddenly, all eyes were on the Tenth Doctor, who suddenly looked very embarrassed. "I, er… Well, that is to say…"

"How do you even _do _something like that?" the Seventh Doctor asked incredulously.

"And people call _me _egocentric!" the Sixth Doctor exclaimed.

"Oh, leave him alone," the new Doctor interrupted. "Yes, it was stupid of him, but it's in the past now. In fact, we're _all _in the past now, and some of us are in the _future_, but never mind."

"You're not possible," the Eleventh Doctor said simply.

The Twelfth Doctor grinned. "No, I'm not, except I am. Twelfth Doctor, thirteenth face, fourteenth incarnation – that's me!"

"But why are you here?" the War Doctor asked.

"I have the final section of calculations. I _need _to be here. You can't finish them without a little more legroom."

"I could finish them!" the Eleventh Doctor protested.

"But you'd have to rush through them and risk getting something wrong. With me here, you can work at a more leisurely pace. Why settle for ninety-nine percent when you know you're capable of one hundred? Besides, I can't exist if this doesn't work."

"Why not?"

"Spoilers!"

The Eleventh Doctor smiled, feeling his trust in this stranger increase tenfold. "Right then! Back to work, Doctors!"

And in an instant, all thirteen Doctors were working away, frantically trying to keep up with each other.

In the War Room, having watched all this in stupefied silence, one of the Time Lord Generals noticed something distressing on the radar screen. "Sir – the Daleks know that something is happening! They're increasing their firepower!"

As if to illustrate his point, the entire War Room was shaken, tossing all the occupants around like peas in a frying pan. They staggered around as dust poured down from the ceiling.

And yet, through the darkness, they all saw the thirteen holograms glowing bright blue in the darkness. Thirteen Doctors working together, all trying to reach a common goal – to save their home planet.

The General swallowed. Anything was better than this hell.

"Do it, Doctor," he said at last, looking up at them imploringly. "Just do it… Do it!"

The Eleventh Doctor looked at the information on his screens. Everything was ready. All his other selves were set.

"Okay…," he said quietly, pressing a button that allowed him to see all his other faces, and they were all looking at him. "Gentlemen – we're ready."

"Care to lead us in, Doctor?" the Twelfth Doctor asked, smiling.

The Eleventh Doctor took a moment to mentally absorb of every detail of his impossible future self, knowing that he would forget all about him when this was over. In fact, this would cause him to forget the outcome of this venture. Even if he saved Gallifrey, he would probably not remember that it had worked.

But the important thing now was to actually try.

He looked into the eyes of his other selves, and he noticed the Second Doctor smile at him as he straightened his bowtie.

The Eleventh Doctor smiled back and straightened his own.

Then his hand swung against the necessary lever, and he hung onto the console as he felt his TARDIS plunge towards Gallifrey.

"_GERONIMO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!_" he roared to the heavens as his face vanished from the screen.

Inspired, the Tenth Doctor leapt forwards and flung his own lever. "_Allons-y!_" he cheered, jolting as his own TARDIS followed in suit.

The Ninth Doctor grinned and flung another lever. "Fantastic!"

The War Doctor rolled his eyes disparagingly. "Oh, for god's sake!" he grumbled before gripping the lever before him. "_Gallifrey Stands!_"

And his TARDIS plunged after the first three, and then nine more blue boxes flung themselves around the planet. Between them all, several white lines began to surround Gallifrey, freezing the entire thing, save for any Daleks that were on the surface. Everything Gallifreyan in origin was taken away in a bright white flash, sent to who knows where.

The Daleks continued firing, still intensifying, and in only a matter of seconds, they had destroyed themselves utterly and completely.


End file.
